10 Tips for Managing Diabetes

Diabetes is a lifelong, total-body problem. Manage blood sugars and overall health with these smart tips.

If you smoke, quit.

Smoking increases the risk of developing diabetes, and once you have it, smoking makes every problem and complication associated with diabetes even worse. Smoking raises blood-glucose levels, constricts blood vessels, and causes inflammation, and smokers have an increased risk of kidney disease, nerve damage, blood-vessel damage, and foot and leg infections. Note that many people gain weight after quitting smoking because they try to satisfy their nicotine cravings by eating more — a particularly dangerous strategy for people with diabetes. Therefore, it's super-important to quit smoking, if you smoke — and to be mindful of your food intake as you kick the bad habit.